Apparatus for making screen pipe



Sept. 26, 1944.

ca -R. Moss ET AL APPARATUS FOR MAKING SCREEN PIPE Original Filed April 5. 1958 u l l 6. /E M055 JOE FT MAMO/VEZ y INVENTORS.

aM-v/ y inch or more.

been made to utilize this process in manufacturl Patented Sept. 26, 1944 UNITED y APPARATUS MAKINGSCREENPIBE Garner R. Moss and Joe yl*`.AMa1oney, Houston,

Tex., assignors to Emso--Screenrlipe Company, Houston, Tex., a corporation vofr Texas original application April a 5,

1838,y serial No. 1

200,088. Divided and this' application March v. V2.0, 1942, Serial No. *435,515V l' 5 claims. (01.80%1'8).Y

This application is a division ofour prior oopending application led April 5, 1938, Serial No.

200,088, for Method of and apparatus for making screen pipe. v -v This invention relates Vto an yapparatus for use in making screen pipe, and in carryingout other methods "in which the outer surface of anrextern ally cylindrical member is to be rolled. 4The general object of this invention is to provide an apparatus which will make it possible to `roll the exterior of a screen pipe or other member with a cylindrical outer surface Without necessity of providing special or unusual expensive and complicated machinery.

This invention, while having other applications, relates particularly to the manufacture of screen pipe of theV general type set forth in Patent No. 1,566,624 issued to Edward M, Smith on December 22, 1925. In making this pipe commercially it has in the past been customary rst tomill grooves in the inner surface'o'f the pipe beneath the location of each slot which was toibe formed, these grooves, however, not passingY entirely through the pipe. TheV slots would then' be formed by sawinginto the exterior surface of the pipe opposite each of the grooves thathave been so milled, the saws used for this purpose being of a width designed to produce the width of slot desired for the screen being manufactured. Y m Y The foregoing process has provedfairly satisfactory for manufacturing screen pipe in which the slotsin the finished pipe are as wide as 0.020 However, when'1 attempts have ing screen pipe having slots narrower than 0.020 inch, many diiliculties have lbeen encountered, and these increase as the width of the 'slot in the finished pipe decreases. It is necessary that these screens be made of exceedingly hard and tough steel or similar material because when used in deep wells such as are now common in the oil elds of the United States and other parts ofthe world, they are subjected to very great `stresses andwould readily be collapsed if made of less durable material. `v

Most of the difficulties heretofore encountered have resulted from the fact that the smaller gauges of saws employed in making the narrower slots do not have sulcient body to enable them l to stand up in cutting the exceedingly hard and tough material ofthe usual'steel pipes orf-which vsuch screens are made. The result yis that the saws frequently break during the process of saw- 4ing'these slots. In making a 22 foot length of Y z screen Ypipe .having slots therein 0.008 inch wide, 'as many as live or six hundred saws would ordi- `narilybe broken because they did not have the body-to stand up in cutting these narrow slots. -This not only involves great expense in the cost of saws, but' each. timeV a saw breaks it causes a flaw inthe slot which it is cutting. That is, it

Vvtears. out a portion of the material and makes itfnecessaryto replace the material by welding "orf the I'like before the cutting of the slot can go forward with a new saw. When the openings thus torn by a saw just broken have been welded, there is no assurance even then that the mate- '.rial replaced by the weld will be asstrong and serviceable as the material of the original pipe. some cases it may be. stronger V`and in others weaker. After the welding has taken place, a newisaw must be mounted -and the cutting of the.' slot proceeded with.

Duefto the necessity for stopping the cutting 'operation at frequent intervals and making large nuiiibers of welds to repairthe portions of the 'pipe torn by broken saws, and due to the neces- Vsity'forreplacing the-saws broken, themanufactureo'f screen'in small gauges by this method "has 'also consumed agreat deal of time and due 'to its-uncertainty theA manufacturer has not been ableto foretellhowmuchtime will be consumed in makinga given amount of screen pipe.

' In our aforesaid application a solution for this problemk has been disclosed and claimed, which solution involves rst sawing the slots'to a wider gauge. and then rolling the outer surface of the slotted pipe without reducing its inner diameter to 'partially close theslots. -It mayor may not "thereafter Ybe found necessary to resaw the slots 4tothe desired gauge. f Y

Anobject of this invention is therefore'to provide apparatus which is both simple and inexpensive, yet, capable of efficiently carrying outf certain of the steps ofthe method claimed in Another object is to provide apparatus which will make it'possibleto roll theouter surface of an elongated cylindrical member using' a lathe 'of ordinary construction. :7;: Qther objectssand advantages of this inven= ftionwill becomey apparent from the following descriptiont'aken inv connection with the accompanying dr`awir'ig,`fthe 'same vbeing by way of i1- lustra'tin andexample kvonly and not vby way of llimit'ationg This invention is tobe" limited in` its '.s'cope-'onlyl by--the prior "aldaj'andA by thefappended claihlsi y n 'J f In the drawing: p

Fig. 1 is a transverse vertical cross sectional view, partly in elevation, illustrating the rolling operation forming a part of the method of this invention, and the apparatus used in connection therewith.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a portion of a screen constructed in accordancev with this invention. s

In accordance with our previous application referred to, the pipe of which the screen is to be formed is first milled on itsV inner surface in the same manner as was the previous practice.

Then, if it be desired to produce a screen having Y a gauge narrower than experience has shown can` be made by sawing the slots to gauge as in the previous practice, the slots instead of being sawed to gauge are sawed to some greater width which can be sawed without the difficultiesy above referred to Suitable means is then employed for the purpose of upsetting the metallic body of the pipe adjacent the edges of the wide slots thus produced until these slots have a width not greater than the width which is desired for the finished slots.

For the purpose of performing this ,upsetting operation, this invention provides the equipment illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing. This equipment consists of a frame comprising a Y- member I having upwardly and outwardly directed arms 2 and 3, respectively, and having a downwardly extending leg 4. To the upper end of the arm 2 is pivotally connected by means of a bolt 5 or the like a third arm 6 capable of substantially closing the space between the upper ends of the arms 2 and 3. The opposite end of the arm 6 pivotally carries a bolt 'I adapted to be swung downwardly to enter a notch 8 in the upper end of the arm 3, and the arm 6 may then be securedin the position shown in Fig. 1 by means of a nut 9 or the like. Adjustably mounted in a threaded opening through 111.16 Y- member at the juncture of theV arms 2 andk 3 is a roller support member IIJ which extends upwardly between the arms 2 and 3 and is provided with a bifurcated portion II within which is received a roller I2 suitably pivoted upon a shaft I3. vThis support may be locked in position by means of a lock nut I4 and the shaft I3 may be prevented from axial movement by a Cotter key I5 or the like.

Similarly mounted adjacent the opposite extremities of the arm 6 are two other supports I6 and I 1, respectively, these being locked in position by means of lock nuts I8 and I9, respectively, and having bifurcated portions and 2I for receiving rollers 22 and 23. These rollers as in the previous instance are mounted upon shafts 24 and 25 which are secured in position by cotter keys 26 and 21.

It is to be noted that the shafts I0, I6 and II are so positioned that the rollers I2, 22 and 23 will be spaced from each other by substantially 120.

Thefpipe 29 which has been milled and slotted with wide saws as previously explained and as shown at 36 is mounted in a lathe or the like and the frame just described is placed around the pipe and secured in closed position by means of the bolt 'I Vand the nut 9, It will be seen that the downwardly extending leg 4 of the Y-,member has a laterally disposed bifurcated part 30 within which is received a roller 3| mountedupon a pin 32. This roller is so disposed and the leg 4 is of such length that it will engage the inside surface of one of the lathe ways 33 or 34, or some other surface along which it may 5 move in a longitudinal direction but which will prevent it from rotating as the pipe 29 is rotated. The supports I0, I6 and I1 are then adjusted so as to apply the rollers with a desired force against the outer surface of the pipe. These supports are also adjusted in such a manner that the axes of the rollers I2, 22 and 23 will be disposed at somewhat of an angle with respect to the axis of the pipe29.

The pipe 29 Vis thereupon rotated and the rollers bearing against the outer surface thereof will upset the metal adjacent the slots which have been sawed and will narrow these slots. Due to the angular disposition of the rollers, the rollers and the frame in which they are carried will upon rotation of the pipe be moved longitudinally of the pipe so that the slots over the entire length of the pipe will be closed by substantially the same amount.

The result of this upsetting or slot closing operation as performed by the rollers just described is illustrated in the left hand portion of Fig. 3 where 4the slots closed by the rollers are indicated bynumeral 35. These slots may in 3o this operation be rolled to exactly the gauge desired. However, in the event it is so desired, the

slots may be closed until they are narrower than the slots desired in the finished product and thereafter theyrmay be sawed exactly to the gauge 35 desired by saws of a width adapted to perform this function. In the latter case, the saws for sawing the pipe to gauge are not called upon to do a great deal of work such as they would be calledllpon to do if the slots'had not previously 40 been formed. Instead, they are simply called upon to widen the previously formed and rolled slotsand bring them to exactlyy the width desired. It hasbeen found in actual practice that this can be done and that the saws of a very narrow gauge still have sufficient body to enable them to stand up in this slot widening operation.

While apparatus described may, of course,l be employed for rolling the exteriors of vother cylindrical members, it has been found very eflicient in practice and to assist greatly in carrying out the screen making processv described in a rapid and efficient manner.

Means have therefore clearly been provided for carrying out the Vobjects and advantages sought byI this invention.

Havingdescribed our invention, we claim:

1 In an apparatus for rolling the exterior surface of a cylindrical member, a frame adapted to extend about and be supported substantially entirely by said member, a plurality of roller supports extending inwardly from saidy frame, a plurality of rollers mounted on said supports, respectively, and adapted rto bear against the exterior surface of such cylindrical member, said frame having an arm extending laterally therefrom, and a roller on saidrarm adapted to contact a guide rail extending-substantially parallel to the axis of the cylindrical member to prevent said'frame from rotating while said cylindrical member is being rotated. Y

2. In an apparatus for rolling the exterior surface, lof ,a cylindrical member, a Vframe adapted toextend about and besupported substantially entirely by said member, said frame comprising separable hingedly connected-parts whereby said frame may be spread to permit it to be placed about such cylindrical member, and means for securing said frame in closed position about such member, a plurality of roller supports extending inwardly from said frame, and a plurality of rollers mounted in said supports, respectively, on axes at equal acute angles to the plane of said frame and adapted to bear against the exterior surface of such cylindrical member.

3. In an apparatus for rolling the exterior surface of a cylindrical member, a frame adapted to extend about and be carried by said member and free to move in any direction to adjust itself to said member, and'more than two non-tracking rollers carried by said frame and adapted to bear against the exterior surface of such cylindrical member, all of the said rollers having their axes inclined at equal angles with respect to the axis of said member, whereby when said frame and said member are rotated with respect to each other said frame will be caused to move longitudinally with respect to said member.

4. In an apparatus for rolling the exterior surface of a cylindrical member, a frame adapted to extend about and be carried by said member and free to move in any direction to adjust itself to said member, a plurality of roller supports extending inwardly from said frame, and more than two non-tracking rollers mounted in said supports, respectively, and adapted to bear against the exterior surface of such cylindrical member, all of the said rollers having their axes inclined at equal angles with respect to the axis of said member, whereby when said frame and said member are rotated with respect to each other, said frame will be caused to move longitudinally with respect to said member.

5. In an apparatus for rolling the exterior surface of a cylindrical member, a frame adapted to extend about said member, a plurality of roller supports extending inwardly from said frame and more than two non-tracking rollers mounted in said supports, respectively, and adapted to bear against the exterior surface of such cylindrical member, all of the said rollers having their axes inclined at equal angles withrrespect to the axis of said membensaid frame having an arm eX- tending laterally therefrom, and a roller mounted on said arm on an axis parallel to theplane of said frame, whereby when said member is mounted in a lathe said frame may be mounted on said member with said first mentioned rollers in con- GARNER R. MOSS. JOE F. MALONEY. 

